Children's social workers 'undermined' by government reform plans

Responding to an education select committee inquiry on social work education, the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) said its members are concerned that planned reforms "undermine" the existing workforce which is "already under pressure at a time of cuts".

Government plans for social work education include introducing a national accreditation scheme for children's social workers by 2020. It has also announced that the Frontline training programme – dubbed Teach First for social workers – will be expanded across the country, and a further cohort will be trained as part of the government's Step Up To Social Work scheme.

In its response to the select committee inquiry, BASW argues that the current average time spent in the profession of just eight years shows that more effort is needed to retain the existing workforce and protect them from "burnout".

BASW chief executive Bridget Robb said government's Child Protection Taskforce appears to have taken a position from the outset that the social work profession is "failing".

"The deficit perspective is both incorrect and damaging for service users, professionals and society in general," she said.

"It is unacceptable that there is no social worker as a member of this group."

She added that it "feels premature", for the government to be relying so heavily on Frontline and Step Up to Social Work, which it emerged last week is massively oversubscribed, for future workers.

“The timing and expenditure on ‘fast track’ training schemes has split the profession," she said.

"Step up to Social Work was controversial when it started, but is now regarded as a good innovation and is turning out good social workers.

"Frontline is extremely well-resourced with some interesting innovations in its delivery, but is as yet unproven as to how its students will manage when the programme finishes and how long they will remain in the workforce."